Blog

We’ve had a particularly snowy season thus far along much of the East Coast Greenway. But in Providence, Rhode Island, a hot new indoor bike racing series is bringing together bike commuters, spin class attendees, 20-something hipsters, and casual cyclists. And it’s a fundraiser for bike advocacy groups including the East Coast Greenway Alliance!

RI Velosprints is a 10-week series (it started on Jan.4, goes until the end of March) of roller races, starting at 6 pm at McFadden’s in downtown Providence (52 Pine St). Cyclists go head-to-head on identically-geared bikes (rear wheels on rollers, front wheels removed, bikes secured with fork mounts, so there’s no chance of falling over) for 500-meter sprints. There are prizes each night as well as grand prizes at the end of the series, thanks to our great sponsors.

The three bike advocacy groups that have organized (and are benefiting from) this event series are the US Open Cycling Foundation (a safe cycling education foundation for RI), Providence Bicycle Coalition (broad-brush bike advocacy in RI), and your very own East Coast Greenway Alliance. Funds are being raised through the event sponsors, but also through the very-reasonable participation fees. A portion of beer sales also come back to us!

So whether you want to race, heckle the racers, or just enjoy a fun evening with great pub food and great company, we hope to see you at McFadden’s on Monday nights through March!